Hector Van Reyes
Hector Van Reyes '''AKA Padre '(b. 1954) - is a former Catholic priest, international entrepreneur and the founder of the Order of Christ's Blood. Biography Early years Hector Van Reyes was born in 1954, Castilla y Leon region of Francoist Spain. His mother, Catalina Da Rosa, was a Spaniard woman working as a historian at local university, while her husband, Abraham Van Reyes, was a well off architect from Holland, used his talents at various medieval castle restoration projects around Spain. The family was quite wealthy and this provided Hector with a safe and happy enough childhood until his 12th birthday when his father suddenly passed away. Unbeknownst to his mother, Hector's father was indebted greatly and with his debts now on widowed mother shoulders, the family lost most of its wealth and the two were forced to move to a small town not far from historic Alcantara Castle in the same Castilla y Leon region where Hector was born. After father's death Hector had to start working early in his life to support himself and his mother. Amidst daily troubles the boy was ensured to have good education, with entire library of his mothers history books available to him. Reyes was especially captivated by medieval history and crusades. This might be the reason why he was drawn to religion at such young age. While not at school or work, the boy was spending time with Jesuit nuns and monks at monastery not far from the town. Observing these holy people work and pray, reading various scriptures at monasteries library might have awakened something inside Reyes that decided his further path. Reyes became very religious which often conflicted with his agnostic mothers views. Early adulthood Hector's bookish disposition allowed him to become a great student at school and after graduating he enrolled in Madrid's University to study history with governments stipend for exemplary students. Though this career path was mostly encouraged by his mother and in turn was not very appealing to young man, even if history was the most interesting thing for him. After studying for one year, Hector dropped out, much to the dismay of his mother. Instead, feeling a divine call from years of interest of religion, he joined Metropolitan Catholic Seminary at age of 21. The four following years in religious education formed Reyes own religious views that much later were used to laid the foundation of Order... Religious education Reyes diligently spent 4 years at seminary, learning theology and preparing to be ordained as a priest. Taking frequent walks in Seville and observing the people, Hector was appalled by how rampart the sinful lifestyle has taken hold of populace of the city - drugs, debauchery and blasphemy was everywhere. When free from his studies, he spent his time at homeless shelters and orphanages, listening to the problems of society's downtrodden. 3rd year of the Seminary proved to be another very important time of Hector's life when he discovered texts of of centuries old Hermetic Apocryphal Society - a secret esoteric christian society that's almost old as the entire Christianity itself. As it turned out, these texts were forbidden and almost ended in Hector's expulsion after he shared them with his colleagues. Highly esoteric and almost occult in their sense, these teachings found within the old scriptures made Reyes to completely question the system on which the church was built. He continued to study these texts in secret. Religious career and conflict with Vatican Hector was ordained as priest at the age of 25 after finishing the Seminary. He was quickly appointed to clergy role in Seville and went on to serve as a priest for 5 years before gaining a rare opportunity to travel to Rome and work in Vatican - an opportunity he gladly took. During this time, his ties to the mystical Hermetic Apocryphal Society grew even stronger, which allowed him to find few contacts following a similar interests. His stay in Vatican lasted for 2 full years during which he witnessed the corruption of Vatican first hand. Completely disgusted by the dirty affairs of churches supposed most holy people, Hector was considering becoming a whistle-blower that would shine a light on secretive lives of corrupt Vatican officials. But the officials were quicker than Hector and realized that the young clergyman was preparing to create a scandal that would end their careers. They managed to find out Hector's involvement with the forbidden hermetic society and blackmailed him, warning that they will take away his ordainment and he will never be able to become a clergyman again after his involvement with "heretical" material. Instead of risking everything, Hector agreed to to keep silent... for time. Hector silently disappeared from public and Vatican took away his ordainment anyway. Nobody knew what was he doing since then until few years later... The Padre Hector had a plan and enough ambition. His anger for Vatican's establishment and religious zeal he was growing for years provided him enough strength to pursue a plan that nobody would expect would become one of the most terrifying forces in world decades later. Realizing he had a quite talent for business after witnessing and working in the schemes of Vatican, Hector enrolled in University of Bologna to study finances. He bought a plot of land in Italian mountains which he turned into a small vineyard, bringing him a trickle of wealth he used to invest in various businesses around Italy, buy increasingly bigger property and rent it out, making even more money. At age of 34, Reyes was already a self-made millionaire - a fact he never flaunted due to his religious disposition of humbleness. Several more years later Hector took on alias of "Padre" and established his own incorporated entity that combined his various financial pursuits into one large company, bringing him millions. Various philanthropic activities in poor regions of Africa have gained Reyes lots of media attention during late 70's and early 80's. With enough wealth to buy expansive amounts of land, Hector returned to his native Spain and as faith willed it - purchased a crumbling medieval castle complex of Alcantara castle. After restoring it, Hector "retired" and spent his life writing the Genesis of New Millennium - a religious and political manifesto that would become the foundation of Order. Convent of Christ's Blood and formation of Order Sometime during 90's, Reyes gathered 24 Christian priests of various denominations to his home at Alcantara castle. Most of these individuals were also members of the Hermetic Apocryphal Society - an interest that bonded them and Reyes greatly. A lengthy theological debate was held, during which it was agreed that most aspects of Christianity are not compatible with some values of modern world and it will completely weaken off in coming 21th Century due to passiveness and growing complete secularism among most countries. To prevent this, the Convent of Christ's Blood was formed which solidified the aspects of Nicaenism - a new age christian ideology that combined aspects of catholic, orthodox and few other denominations. In coming years the organization has grown to international network, unifying the sympathetic clergy and common followers. With increasingly large amount of followers the sect went into hiding in year 2006 after Reyes realized that governments of Europe might take notice of Convents illegal and almost terrorist activities. During the silent period Convent was reformed in the militant Order of Christ's Blood which suddenly returned fully armed and trained in warfare in year 2015. Arch-Pontiff of Attaleia After victorious Anatolian Crusade during Anatolian Conflict, Order of Christ's Blood were granted a province in Antalya which was renamed into old Byzantine name of Attaleia. This province was since under Order's control where Hector Van Reyes, now a powerful and highly influential religious leader, makes his seat of power. Personality and religious views Hector is a master theologian who spent most of his life studying aspects of faith to better his understatement of christian dogmas and become a powerful religious leader. His knowledge of religious lore extends even further with lifelong commitment to study the christian faith under the principles of Hermetic Apocryphal Society. Because of this, Hector Van Reyes is constantly a target of rumors, both unfound and true. His hatred for Vatican and its corruption is one of the main driving forces behind his zeal and desire to destroy it by spreading and converting millions of people to Nicaenism - the new age denomination calling for a return to principles and system of early Christianity before the schism and other disasters of faith. Aside from religious aspects, Van Reyes as a professional businessman with acumen that gave him the ability to fund himself and the Order early on. Most describe this man as mysterious, well spoken and always calm despite the circumstances. Though it has been said that his sinister aura is detrimental to his relationship with his close friends, servants and other heads of state. Holdings and wealth Hector Van Reyes is the original owner of '''Reyes Holdings Inc'. which today has these enterprises: * Cobalt Construction and Logistics - an international engineering and logistics company mostly operating in eastern Europe and ATO countries. Was involved in reconstruction projects in Anatolia and Volhynia. * Monarche Finance - a financial company mostly dealing with investment and stock trading. Mainly operates in Europe with several branches in Asia. * Odeon Media Group - media group owning several large newspapers, Internet news websites and chief provider of broadcasting services in ATO countries. * Several large wineries, accounting to almost 12 percent of Europe's wine industry output. * Antiquity and relic trade, both legal and illegal. Rumored to account for 6 percent of global antique trade revenue. In addition, all the income gained from administration of Crusader State of Attaleia and worldwide donations from sympathizers of Order As of 2019, Hector Van Reyes is a billionaire with total assumed wealth of 31 billion US dollars. Most of the wealth is used mainly to upkeep and grow the power of Divine Order of Christ's Blood and expand his businesses. Category:Characters Category:Characters & Units Category:Divine Order of Christ's Blood